The Art of Seduction Read online

  The Art of Seduction

  Taming the Billionaire Series

  Book 4

  Kayla C. Oliver

  Let’s get to know each other…

  WARNING:

  This book contains sexually explicit content and adult language. It may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults only. Please ensure this book is stored in a location that cannot be accessed by underage readers.

  Copyright © 2017 by Kayla C. Oliver

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be constructed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Other Books by Kayla C. Oliver

  The Billionaire’s Secrets Series

  The Billionaire Secrets Box Set

  Desire Me

  Taming the Billionaire Series

  The Art of Lust

  The Art of Love

  The Art of Temptation

  The Art of Seduction

  The Billionaire Parker Brothers Series

  Temptation

  Fake True Love

  Love in Lust

  Dared to Love

  Bad Boy’s Virgin Series

  Virgin’s Fantasy

  Virgin’s Lust

  Contents

  The Billionaire’s Secrets Box Set Preview

  Exclusive Book For You

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Epilogue

  Contact Page

  Exclusive Book For You

  Get your exclusive and free copy of Temptation!

  She had the opportunity of a lifetime right at her fingertips, but the passion she found in his arms could destroy it all.

  Happy reading!

  Kayla C. Oliver

  Chapter One

  Tiffany

  I twisted my towel-covered hand around the edge of the glass, stopping and holding it up to the light before doing it over again. The glasses always came out of the machine with the worst water spots, and the owner was a crazy man about it. Every single glass had to be polished before the assholes from the marketing world around us came barreling down, buying whiskey they couldn’t pronounce and patting each other on the back for being the richest men in the city.

  Yeah, that was how I felt about the patrons that paid my bills every month. I did like to be a bartender; that wasn’t the issue at all. It was an easy gig. I showed up, I flirted, I smiled, I poured some drinks, and the hot rich men gave me money. And at the end of the day I could go home and feel like I had done nothing important with my life for yet another day. Meaningless though it was, there I remained each day, polishing away, waiting for the clients to arrive.

  My parents pressured me to go to college, even though I really didn’t want to go. I kicked ass in high school, but by the time I graduated, school was the farthest thing from my mind. At heart, I was an artist, so I went to art school and got a fine arts degree. However, once I got out in the real world, I realized that working at what I loved took the magic out of it, and art had been my passion for so long, I didn’t want to ruin it with the humdrum reality of big business.

  I put the last of the glasses back on the shelf and looked around at the people already inside of the restaurant. They were the people I did not want to become, individuals that crowded the bar every day Monday through Friday, feeling like the thickness and color of their credit card defined their worth. I wanted to eventually be as far away from their type as possible, and though I was glad I had a job to pay the expensive bills that living in New York City brought, I just wanted to get the hell out of dodge.

  I wanted to be free, running through the woods, hiking, and kayaking. I wanted to be as far off the map as possible, and I wanted it to come sooner than later. I had grown up in an atmosphere where nature was all around me. My parents were hippies, living on a farm in upstate New York. They grew their own food, farmed their own land, and neither of them ever worked for someone else. They made their own decisions free from the straps of the business world and they taught me that there were so many other ways to make life beautiful than just going to an office day in and day out, trying to get a bigger office. Now I was ready for my office to be the mountains, the lakes, and the rivers, to walk to work and be free from anyone but myself.

  Love was what drove my parents, whether it was the love of the outdoors or the love of other people. They were together for twenty years, but didn’t believe they needed a certificate from the government to prove their love. So I felt that marriage was something that was sacred and special, something worth fighting for, and I had yet to find a true form of the love I’d been taught existed all around. The prospects that fit my kind of man, not that I had figured that out yet, were pretty dried up inside of this city.

  I had a dream of having a husband that adored me, some babies, maybe even a dog, but at the current time, I had a goldfish named Harold, and a desire to get out and make my way in the world. I wasn’t against meeting someone—I never really put away the idea of falling in love—but I didn’t hold my breath for it, and I definitely wasn’t one of those crazy love-struck women that spent her nights wanting and her days searching. Those women made me sad, thinking how horrible it would be to direct my whole life around finding the right man.

  What really was the right man, anyway? I knew, at the very least, that these schmucks at the bar and in the city weren’t it at all, and I wasn’t going to waste my time trying to make them fit the mold.

  Instead, I escaped, every single chance I had. My car almost knew the way without me even steering as it made its way to upstate New York. There was a certain beautiful familiarity to Upstate. When I was there I was kayaking, hiking, cross country skiing, or just sitting in the woods, taking in everything that nature had to offer. Being in the woods, alone, in the quiet, had a healing effect that I just couldn’t put into words.

  The quiet of nature called for me all the time. When I got to New York, I realized how expensive it was, and so I buckled down and got a job. One thing led to another and a couple of years later I felt completely stuck, unable to break the cycle of bills and the constant need to survive in the streaming metropolis. The island of Manhattan no longer looked like an adventure, but instead, a prison that I could only escape once or twice a month, if I was lucky.

  I was saving up my money, and one day I would open up my own hiking and kayaking company. I would live in an off-the-grid cottage and work out of my home, teaching people about the beauties of nature. It was a big dream, but I was determined to see it through.

  “Those stocks were crazy today,” a voice laughed in the background.

  I sighe
d, my thoughts being drawn back to the glasses I was finishing up. The crowd was starting to arrive, and I had to get my head out of the clouds and back to reality. The nicer I was, the more attentive and flirtatious I was, the better tips I got. Every dollar cut down on the time I would have to live in New York, so I made sure to have my makeup on point and to remember the regulars as well as I could. Friday was always the busiest day, and the quickest rush since everyone came in, patted each other on the back, and then headed out to get ready for whatever big plans they had that night.

  As I served one of the regulars his beer, I glanced up, seeing Rob walking through the door. He kept his head down as always, nodded to a couple of people, and made his way back to his usual seat at the bar in the corner. Today he seemed exceptionally exhausted, but that wasn’t anything surprising. Rob had been coming to this bar for five years, and never missed a day that I worked. We had become sort of friends, I guess you could call it.

  He was a strange guy, who never really showed who he was beyond the suit and the tired face. I knew that he was a billionaire and part owner in T&R Marketing, the second biggest firm in the city. From what he told me, though, he stayed in the background, letting the other owners take the spotlight. He cracked dry jokes and made my night move faster, plus, he tipped fifty percent of his bill, so I was more than happy to see him.

  There was a part of me, a part that I tried not to recognize, that found Rob attractive. He was in his early thirties, tall, with strong shoulders and an athletic body. I could tell he took care of himself, which was attractive in its own right. The weird part I couldn’t quite wrap my head around was his short brown hair and hipster beard, which did not fit in with the other executives at all. He also always wore khakis with worn-in boots and button-ups as his “business attire.” I had seen him in expensive suits a lot, but on normal days that was his go-to. Nonetheless, he was handsome and charming, and had a great smile.

  “Hey there,” I said, smiling and handing him his usual glass of whiskey.

  “Hey,” he said, cracking a smile. “How are you?”

  “I’m good,” I said, turning as someone yelled out for me. “Sorry, give me a few and I’ll come talk.”

  “Take your time,” he said with that charming grin.

  I sighed and turned, walking over to the asshole leaning over and waving at me. I was actually really glad that Rob was sitting down there; something about his presence just made me feel more comfortable. I wanted to talk to him, maybe try to pry more out of him about who he was, but the rest of the crowd wasn’t having it.

  Chapter Two

  Earlier That Day

  Rob

  “Right,” I said to Ellen, in Internal Marketing. “So, we need to have those mockups done ASAP, because I want this marketing scheme for the company to go up inside of a month. It’s the big season right now, and the owners want to make a push out of second place.”

  “You do remember you’re an owner, right?” Ellen laughed.

  “Yeah, that’s what I meant,” I chuckled.

  “I’ll have it done,” she replied.

  “Thanks,” I said, hanging up the phone.

  I had been working with the art department for weeks, trying to come up with the perfect internal marketing project to move up T&R up to the number one firm in the city, something my partners wanted desperately. Personally, I thought the number two slot was something to be proud of and believed that growth came organically, but this was what the shareholders wanted too, so I was more than happy to hide away and work on it.

  The company had three owners: Troy Wallace, Riley Allen, and myself. Troy and I had initially started T&R back in the day, but he wanted a face to the company, and that just wasn’t me, so we brought Riley in on the deal. For all intents and purposes, Riley was a huge part of the success of the company. Troy and Riley ran the company from the helm, holding the pieces together from the top down. I liked it better on the lower floors, working hard in the shadows, “slumming it” with the regular employees of the company.

  “Thanks, guys,” I called to the people in the department. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

  They called out bye and I walked out, heading to the elevators. I pressed the down button and stood there, flipping through the file in my hand. I was starting to think that I needed a break, since everything just seemed to melt together all the time. I had several projects going, which wasn’t abnormal for me, but there were moments that I couldn’t get my head on straight, which was abnormal.

  When I got off the elevator, I walked to my office and stopped at my secretary’s desk. She had gone out to lunch but left me a stack of messages that would no doubt be from Troy. Troy had just had a baby, and was working long distance most of the time. Riley had really taken over at the top, but I was pretty sure that made Troy nervous as hell.

  I plopped down in my chair and stared out the window across at the shops. I didn’t like to be up high, and didn’t really care about the perfect view. I had taken an office on the sixth floor in order to be out of sight of everyone else. I liked to watch people below; they looked like rats in a maze, almost on autopilot as they went about their day.

  My mind quickly drifted off to the mountains, where I loved to spend my free time. No one really knew that, since I kept my personal life to myself, but I was yearning for another trip upstate to get away from the crowded craziness of the city. I was tired of waking up to horns and sirens and just wanted the quiet of nature again. My parents were to blame for that need; they were climbers, and I had quickly caught the bug when I was just seven years old.

  That’s what I would do when I escaped: go climb something new, or old, didn’t really matter to me as long as I could feel the stone beneath my fingertips and the rope pulling at my waist. I had planned on living upstate, working remotely, but everything in my life had changed when my parents died. They had gone on a climbing expedition to Argentina to tackle the Cerro Torre, one of the most difficult climbs in South America. It had the highest failure rate in the world, and though my parents’ technical abilities were more than superior, the wavering weather got them in the end.

  After their funeral, I dove into work, even though I had more money than I would know what to do with in ten lifetimes. I didn’t care about the money, though; I just wanted to stay busy. Troy knew all of that when I came to back, ready to finally be rooted in the city. He also knew there was a clock ticking inside of me that yearned to be in the wilderness. I could set out on an expedition, but with Troy’s baby, and his wedding coming up, I had promised him I would stay put, at least for a while. The company needed to keep moving forward, and though Riley was more than capable, Troy knew my head was firmly placed in what was best.

  I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my face with my hands. It had been a really long week, with all the marketing projects going on. It was finally Friday, and that meant I could relax, at least for a little while. I wasn’t the guy that took work home with me often, but I did have an office, just in case. Most of the time I just ended up sitting in front of the computer, researching the next great adventure I would eventually go on. For now, though, I tried to keep my mind rooted in one place.

  ***

  I worked mainly from my office for the remainder of the day, liaising with different departments on various projects. I took lunch in my office and then went straight into conference calls with the different project managers. Those guys were nuts, always on the go, never sleeping, and when they did, they did it with their cellphones on the pillow next to them. I couldn’t imagine having only work to satisfy my life. I would go absolutely nuts. That wasn’t to say that I didn’t have my own endless trough of responsibilities, though.

  I was the go-to for all major projects, the different department heads using me as their check-throughs when something came up. I basically was the guy that okayed everything on the lower levels, working in the quiet to make the bigwigs happy. It was a job that Troy had tried to slough off to the VP, b
ut I wouldn’t have it; it was perfect for me. I answered to myself and then discussed things with the guys, who always trusted me with the decisions. In essence, I was the oil that kept the wheels turning.

  “Hello there, Papa Bear,” I said, taking my afternoon call with Troy. “How is everyone?”

  “We’re all good,” he said. “So, tell me about this project. Are we on schedule?”

  “We’re actually ahead of schedule,” I said. “Like usual, but there’s always something that ends up coming up in the end.”

  “Of course,” he chuckled. “What do you think about it?”

  “I think it’s great,” I said, to appease him.

  “Okay, now tell me how you actually feel,” he laughed.

  “You know how I feel about these things. I think organic growth always wins,” I sighed.

  “I know,” he replied. “But it’s a multi-moving system. We’ll have organic growth as well as pushed marketing growth. You’ll be happy with the results.”

  “I’m sure I will be,” I said, giving in.

  “You know, Melinda said she has a girl that she thinks you would be interested in …”

  “We’ve talked about this,” I reminded him.

  “I know,” he sighed. “I just want you to get out there and get on the market. You aren’t getting any younger.”

  “I think I’ll be just fine,” I laughed.

  “All right, go have a good weekend. I’ll talk to you Monday,” he replied, his baby crying in the back.

  “Take care,” I chuckled.

  Women in the city just didn’t get me; they never aligned with my interests or ideals. Most of the women that I met were looking for someone to marry, someone that would appease Daddy and maybe am obsession with high-end clothing. I didn’t want someone who cared only for my money. I wanted something real, which I knew I was not going to find in New York. There was really no one I had found that I could actually see spending time with on a regular basis.